Gabriel Grill

My research interests revolve around the social study of algorithmic systems like AI, their evaluation, and how they are entwined with large infrastructures and risk management practices. In my dissertation research, I examine how new data analytics and machine learning technologies in supply chain risk management are conceived, evaluated, and disseminated, and what their adoption means for different people and organizations. I mainly use qualitative and mixed methods, such as interviews, document analysis, and ethnographic fieldwork, informed by sensibilities from science and technology studies and technical expertise in computer science. I have published articles examining sociotechnical aspects of algorithmic systems such as on: unrest prediction, profiling in public welfare, and emotion recognition. I also did work on issues around globalized testing infrastructures for generative AI, conceptions of algorithmic bias, and online harassment on social media.

My work draws mainly upon literature from fields such as infrastructure and media studies, social studies of algorithms & data, sociology of risk & testing, and economic sociology. I obtained a master’s degree in computer science from Vienna University of Technology. My studies focused on the areas of natural language processing, parallel & distributed computing, machine learning, human-computer interaction, cognitive science, logic programming, and compiler construction.

I am currently a PhD candidate at the University of Michigan and advised by Christian Sandvig and Silvia Lindtner. I am affiliated with the Center for Ethics, Society, and Computing (ESC), the Infrastructure Lab and the Tech.Culture.Matters. research collective. I have also previously conducted research at the Austrian Academy of Sciences, National Institute of Informatics in Tokyo and Vienna University of Technology.

My work was featured in US & European media outlets like Wired, governmental policy documents such as of the European Parliament, and by NGOs such as Human Rights Watch. I published at academic venues such as ACM SIGCHI (Human-Computer Interaction), ACM FAccT (Fairness, Accountability, and Transparency), ACM CSCW (Computer Supported Cooperative Work & Social Computing), and Frontiers in Big Data. I presented my work at conferences such as the Society for the Social Studies of Science (4S), Association of Internet Researchers (AoIR), and the Society for the Advancement of Socio-Economics (SASE).